Ahab's Last Stand
by azure orbis
Summary: Alternative Ending for the book Moby Dick...


Alternative Ending for Moby Dick

The dawn broke brightly on the ship _Pequod_ and few stirred including the captain. The day was fair and the few feathery clouds decorating the sky promised of a wonderful day, but Captain Ahab paid little heed while he thought dark thoughts to himself.

'I saw Fedellah's limp body, towed by that white monstrosity and I knew, my own death will not be far, but I go on. Aye, I will march onto my doom or triumph. He will not escape me now; not after he took what is rightfully mine. I must have my revenge! But stay a moment; is it my own hand that draws me nearer to the leviathan or the strings of fate pulling me ever closer to death? Curse that boy, he stirs pity within my iron heart but I must not turn back, not now not ever. Look! There, the snowy white fiend finally breeches! He beckons me forward and I will not disappoint! If I am indeed fated to die, let me take that whale with me!'

Ahab commanded the crew to lower the boats and promptly snatched up his pagan blood-bathed harpoon and sat in a boat. The last two days of chasing Moby Dick had damaged all but two of the boats and he was in one of them while the savage Queequeg was in the other. Perhaps today was the day that Ahab would finally have his revenge.

The skies were a calm transparent blue and the yellow sun shone brightly on the two small boats being lowered into the calm dark waters. Sharp voices rang out indicating the position of the white whale at five minute intervals at the captain's orders. The winds swayed gently in the direction of the whale's last seen spout but Ahab ordered the rowers to take up their oars and the two boats moved swiftly and silently over the water's rippling surface.

"Where has that accursed whale disappeared to now?" Ahab muttered darkly to himself. The last sighting was over fifteen minutes ago and within that time; it could have swum far away. Suddenly, he saw the same familiar spout in the distance. It beckoned them and abandoning all caution and fear, the boats changed course to veer slightly to the right and the rowers paddled strenuously toward the white mass that called to them like a siren's song.

They edged closer and closer to the whale and when it was a mere hundred yards away, it suddenly turned and started to charge at the two hapless boats. It was clear that Moby Dick meant to end this chase today, either with the death of the audacious seamen or that of his own. Ahab could hear the uncomfortable shifting of the men behind him and knew they were starting to panic. Within the last two days, more men had died before the wrathful wake of that single whale then all whales previously captured. They had reason to fear.

"Steady now men, hold onto your oars," Ahab called out, hoping to calm the already frightened nerves of the crew members with his voice. He glanced over at the other boat where Queequeg stationed himself at the helm with his razor-sharp harpoon aimed and ready. They shared a look of understanding; today someone would die, it was only a matter of time. Ahab's sight shifted to Pip, sitting miserably toward the back of the small boat. What had possessed him to join the hunt again? If Pip was still on the ship, no harm could come to him. Ahab dismissed the rising sense of compassion and almost parental fear that rose in his unmoving heart. Now was the time for nerves of steel to combat against one that would not die.

The white mass came closer and closer and without warning, Moby Dick suddenly dove under the surface of the water. Within moments his ghostly hue was lost in the dark sea. The men searched frantically in vain. The wicked whale was hoping to repeat the success he had the previous day by upsetting and capsizing the ship by a surprise attack from underneath the small boat and there was little any could do.

The calm of the sea and silence was broken only by the soft splashing of water lapping against the boat and the occasional squawk of the white seagulls above. The men looked lazily at the horizon and waited, growing more impatient as time wore on. The white whale had not returned to attack or even to defiantly show its spout to them and disappear; it simply vanished. Finally, even Ahab grew tired and gave the signal to return to the _Pequod_; it was then that the whale struck.

For a moment, Ahab was too stunned to comprehend the chaotic scene before him. The whale has swum underneath the second boat and had gathered enough momentum to break it completely in half by his brute strength. His crew members watched in fascinated horror as the leviathan's deformed jaw closed firmly on the tattered boat and few unfortunate souls; Pip was one of them.

Ahab wanted to scream in anguish as he watched Pip's arms flailing in the levitation's mouth, moments before the jaw came down with a firm resounding clash. That poor innocent boy! He did not deserve such untimely death at the hand of such a monster! Looking back at the men, he saw that their faces were drawn white with fear and sorrow; he wondered briefly if his own reflected such emotion. Rage tainted his voice as he shouted commands to his men. They jumped, startled by his harsh tones and by the order to continue hunting the whale after it had so viciously murdered many of their comrades only moments ago. Were their lives so worthless to their captain?

They rowed in silence in the murky maroon water, tainted with the lifelines of the dead and dying. The whale had disappeared again, but this time, Ahab would not return to the ship; despite the pleading of his crewmen. Nothing would stop him now. After a moment, he sighted the whale a few hundred yards away.

"After that monstrous fiend! I will not rest until he or I are dead! Row men! Row with all your might! We may die any day, so let us die here!" Ahab's cried as his men rowed at a furious pace after the whale. As they neared, Ahab flung his harpoon at the whale and it stuck. Spurred on by either pain or an evil scheme, the monster picked up speed at an alarming rate and the boat moved swiftly over the waters with her crew grasping her sides with whitened knuckles.

The great white creature turned again and charged at the ship with amazing speed. Its solid head collided with the small boat and its sides shattered and began to leak. Ahab fell out of the boat, still clutching the harpoon line when the whale charged once more and this time, it pulverized the ship; leaving its few survivors floundering in the wide ocean. Ahab held tightly onto the line even while it was dragged by the white whale. The whale seemed to slow down; perhaps the many harpoons still stuck on his side finally took their toll. By dint of exertion, Ahab managed to pull himself closer to the white mass until he nearly stood on the whale itself. Grasping a line, ancient by the looks of the seaweed that grew on it, he drew out his own harpoon out of the white flesh and continued to stab it while bright red blood poured out of the wounds.

As if ignited by a sudden unseen flame, the whale began to move erratically and threatened to drag Ahab under the sea to his watery grave. Seeing the whale's intention, Ahab took one last aim and with all his might, plunged the gleaming harpoon where he supposed the beast's heart to be. Per haps it was sheer dumb luck, but he missed the heart and instead the harpoons edge did hit a vital spot and the whale twitched in pain. Its last moments had come; Ahab had completed his revenge. But unknowingly, the whale's last moments were also Ahab's last.

The whale thrashed wildly in pain, angered that it should be killed by a mortal being, that the immortal and infamous whale should finally find its end at the hand of a mortal man. It attempted one last final attack when it flung its sides so violently that Ahab lost his grip and fell into the sea. With Ahab floundering in the ocean, the whale used its last strength to lift its massive tail high over the mortal's head and let it fall.

The remaining crew members saw a gigantic water spray in the distance as they witnessed the white mass slowly sink into the wine dark seas. The _Pequod_ sailed to the spot of the white whale's sinking to find only battered pieces of wood and floating corpses in the sickening reddish water. There was no sign of their captain anywhere. Starbuck rallied the crew and led them away from the massive grave. It was a terrible obsession that consumed the captain and now it had led him to his death. At least he got his revenge on the whale known as Moby Dick.

_Fini_

_A/N: You're probably wondering why I even wrote this ending, well blame it all on my English teacher who thought it would be a fun final English product for high school...I didn't even like the book that much, but perhaps that had something with it being the last book I was required to read...So, enjoy the gore? It was a bit bloody..._


End file.
